


Could You?

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Post War, Post-War, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Eternity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-23
Updated: 2011-02-23
Packaged: 2018-10-27 13:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10809912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Ginny sits under a tree, thinking of life after the War.





	Could You?

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).
> 
>  **Author's notes:** Have fun with this other major piece of fluff! Read and review!

           Ginny sat in the shade of her favorite tree in the garden of the Burrow, as she had done every day since Fred’s death, since Harry’s return. 

           Part of her felt horrible for equating the two, one pure and unabridged pain for the death of a brother, of part of her family, while another felt unbelievable relief that one brother and a pseudo-sister had returned. 

           That Harry had returned.

          But he wouldn’t look at her, at least not directly. They hadn’t said a word to each other. She thought, in her dreams, that he told her he loved her, and that’s why he wanted her to stay in the Room of Requirement, but that was just her mind trying to make sense of it all. 

          A last happy memory. 

          They sat together at the Victory celebration. He held her at the memorial service. She cried on Harry’s shoulder during the funeral, but he was silent, the rock for her to rest on. Yet now, nearly three months since Fred’s burial, they had still not spoken. The tension was killing both of them. It was to the point where last night he had packed up and left the Burrow. He left a simple note saying that he was checking things out at Headquarters, and would be back as soon as he could.

          Ginny wasn’t sure he was ever coming back.

          Perhaps he'd found someone on his adventure, or maybe he realized the truth of the mater, that he was Harry Potter, the hero of the Wizarding world, and could have anything he wanted, and it wasn’t her anymore. Ginny resigned herself to this fate years ago. Harry could literally have dozens of women, at the same time if he truly wanted to, and they would all be better than the youngest, homely daughter of a poor family.

          Part of Ginny was devastated, and another, relived. She knew it could happen, so she was oddly pleased that it didn’t happen when they were together. Yes, a part of her thought she was in love, but at least he had broken her heart nearly a year before he started to enjoy the benefits of being a hero. 

          Ginny closed her eyes and slammed her head against the tree. 

          “That probably hurt.” came a deep voice, one she knew all too well, regardless of its absence for so long.

          “After nearly a year of not talking, those are the first words out of your mouth, Potter?”

          “No, the first thing I told you was, and I quote, ‘A Bathroom?’ when asking for Ron and Hermione, during the battle. The next thing I told you, though you didn’t hear, was when I was leaving the room.”

          Ginny’s heart leapt in her chest. Maybe she didn’t dream it after all. No, she knew she had. She wasn’t a princess, and she wouldn’t get the prince. “Figures you remember exactly what you said. Enlighten me, on why what you said should be so memorable,” she shot back with a scowl.

          There was silence for a while, and Ginny finally got the nerve to open her own eyes. 

          Harry was standing in front of her, looking up into the air, running fingers through his hair. He muttered something Ginny couldn’t hear. 

         “What did you say?”

          Harry looked down at her, and her breath caught in her lungs. Those horrible, piercing green eyes of his were burning into her soul. 

          “I said that I was an idiot to ever think I would have a normal life.”

          “Huh?”

          Harry seamed to deflate in front of her. “I was an idiot. I left you, broke your heart, and walked away. I was an idiot to ever think you would have me back. I never deserved you in the first place.  Now, I deserve you even less. I guess that just suits my lot in life.”

          Ginny’s temper flared. “And what lot is that, the Hero of the World?”

          “You know I never wanted that. I just want a family, and I had one, but I had to go and break their youngest daughter’s heart.” Harry laughed a mirthless laugh. “It would be easier if I just stop caring, but I don’t have that luck. No, I lose the best things that have ever happened to me, because I love you, and that is just too damn ironic.”

          Ginny was in shock. _He loves me?_ That was impossible. Harry kept on talking.

          “You know, there is a part of me that's glad you don’t care anymore, because that means I won’t feel the sting of you leaving when you realize you could have any bloke in the world and you settled on me.” 

_He thinks I’m settling on him?_

           “But a part, oh hell, most of me, wishes that some way, somehow, you could, you would, still love me. But that won’t happen. I just came out here to tell you goodbye, and to give you this.” He let a small necklace dangle out of his hands. It was gold, with a ruby heart on the end. 

           Ginny had never seen anything that beautiful, yet that simple, in her life. 

           “I was going to give it to you for your birthday, last year, but I obviously never got the chance. I was going to hold out for your birthday this year, but I think it would be awkward for your ex to give you something like this in front of your whole family, or any date you might decide to bring.” Harry’s voice was cracking, and so was her heart. “I just wanted you to know, that everything I said, back during the Battle, is still true.”

          “Harry,” Ginny’s voice was weak, “What did you say?

          Harry sighed. “Figures you don’t remember, I wasn’t that important anymore.” He sighed, “I told you that I loved you, and you meant everything to me. I swore that if I got out of it alive, and if you would, if you could, love me, then I would spend the rest of my life trying to make up for leaving you.”

          Ginny’s heart broke. Those were the exact words she dreamt of hearing from him. “You said that back at Hogwarts, during the Battle?” 

          Harry just nodded. 

          Ginny felt tears ready to stream down her face. “You love _me?”_  Ginny asked, incredulous. “Me, the poor, homely daughter of a family that’s too big for its own good? Me, the one who almost had you killed my first year at Hogwarts? Me, the one who got herself injured in the Department of Mysteries and was barley any help to you? Me?”

          Harry laughed; it was one that seemed to get all the weight off his shoulders.  “Yes, you, the most beautiful witch I have ever met, with a family that loves even a reject like me. Yes, you, who I still feel guilty for not noticing sooner that something was wrong, and guilty that you were targeted because of me. Yes, you, who were the only other capable fighter, regardless of a broken leg, who stood by me, till the end in my fifth year.  Yes, you.” He laughed at her face. “You, who still has this amazing ability to make me feel worthwhile even when I know you want nothing to do with me.”

Ginny’s head was spinning.

He was deadly serious. He _loved_ her, and worse, he thought she didn’t want him. Decision made, she looked at him. “Well, Harry, the least you can do before you run away from me again, is to put that necklace on me.” Her tone came out harsher then she'd intended, but if it got him down to her, she didn’t care.

Harry gave her an odd look, but sighed in response, and got down on one knee.

            Ginny grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him towards her, kissing him with all the passion she had kept at bay for nearly a year. What made it all the better, was the fact that he seemed to be kissing her back with the same wild abandon, as if this were the last kiss he would ever get, for the rest of his life.

            Ginny broke the kiss, more for oxygen than anything else. “If you ever get more than five feet away from me, Harry, I am going to give you the hexing of your life. I love you, damn it, and I want nothing more for us than to be together. I _love_ you, and I always will.”

            Harry looked into her eyes, and she saw the spark light in them. “You love me?”

            Ginny nodded. 

            “Well, that means I have a lot of making up to do, doesn’t it?”

            Ginny smiled. “If you would, if you could, it will take us the rest of our lives. You okay with that?”

            Harry’s only answer was aanother passionate kiss.


End file.
